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My friend E began her healthstyle upgrade at the beginning of 2010, and has shared her journey with Summer Tomato readers in the past. Today she kindly agreed to share her farmers market as well.

E. Foley is a geek girl extraordinaire. She writes amazing online dating profiles for geeks and non-geeks, helping clients all over the world find love. Her writing can be found at Examiner.com, Dating Sites Reviews, and elsewhere as a ghostwriter. By day, she is the Copywriter at ThinkGeek.

I don’t know about you, but I’m sick and tired of Darya’s constant Californicating. Those of us on the best (aka East) coast of the U.S. appreciate our farmers markets on a far deeper level because we only get them from May through November. Such is the case in my home state of Maryland.

(Really, I love Darya and the Californicating actually helps me plan for things coming into season over here.)

Maters

Summer Veggies

I’ve been working with Darya on my healthstyle since the beginning of 2010 and am proud to report I’ve lost about 20 pounds without ever feeling deprived. In fact, I feel like I eat way tastier things now. I’m still having the occasional cookie or bacon cheeseburger, but on the whole, my healthstyle is much improved as a result of having her coaching me.

My boyfriend and I have visited all the farmers markets in a 20 mile radius and we’ve decided to call the Olney Farmers and Artists Market home. Out of all the markets we visited, this one seemed to have the best mix of vendors. These pictures are from my trip on Sunday, June 13th.

Kohlrabi

Fresh Corn

One of the common things I’ve heard from the farmers is that the unseasonably hot weather lately has pushed the growing season up a bit. Last week, I tried two new-to-me things: garlic scapes and saskatoon berries. With the garlic scapes, I made a delicious (albeit really strong!) pesto. I also threw them into pretty much everything we cooked last week. Saskatoon berries taste like a cross between a blueberry and a sweet apple. They were great in pancakes as well as a spread I made by blending them with local chevre.

This week, neither scapes nor saskatoons were available. Asparagus, another spring favorite of mine, has also disappeared. Since we have absolutely fabulous local goat cheese from Cherry Glen Farm, I was making lots of Asparagus & Goat Cheese Quesadillas. (Feel free to throw garlic scapes in there if you still have them!)

Red Onions

Flowers

But summer is moving in quickly! Last week’s strawberries are being pushed out by blueberries, cherries, raspberries, and blackberries. I’m getting over mono, so I can’t drink alcohol quite yet, but I’m sensing a blackberry mojito in my future.

Mojito Time!

Blackberries

My one beef with this market is that some of the farmers don’t put up signs to identify what farm they’re from and me being me, I forget to ask. The list below is labeled as best as I could!